Plane diverts to Heathrow after passenger dies in 'suspicious' circumstances on board

A KLM plane had to be diverted to Heathrow after a passenger was taken ill and then died on board.

Police were treating the Boeing 777 as a crime scene on Monday night after the Amsterdam-bound plane from Lima was diverted after the medical emergency.

The plane landed at around 2.15pm, and was met by paramedics who declared the man, thought to be in his 30s or 40s, dead at the scene.

John Hopwood, a nurse from Manchester who was returning after a holiday in South America, was sat six rows behind the deceased passenger. He said passengers were kept on board for five hours before being told the plane would be treated as a crime scene and they had to disembark.

A senior police officer then told them in one of Heathrow's terminals that the death was being treated as "suspicious".

Mr Hopwood told the Guardian: "There was no commotion on board. We were just told initially that someone had taken ill.

"The police officer said they were bringing a forensics team over from the other side of London.

"We did ask why it took so long for it to be designated as a crime scene. We were kept on the plane for five hours and during that time people would have been walking past the seat where the passenger was."

"People are confused about why it took so long. There are a lot of Latin American people who still have not reached the end of very long journeys, and who were unhappy because there was no one to properly translate what was going on."

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police confirmed that an investigation was under way into the circumstances of the death, which was being treated as unexplained.

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Jules

Doesn't take much to work out (given the origin of the flight), that he's a drug smuggler whose bags have burst inside his stomach (or bum, wherever they were secreted). I won't be losing any sleep over this one.

What's going on here, space aliens, was the corpse British and used to bring in its family, so the brother probably did it.Mr perv, you are probably right, you can't beat the daily sport for its take on telling the truth, you read on mate, but don't ever shake hands with me.

Odd very odd, I would have had the passengers taken to a designated place in the airport, sent the forensics team onto the plane, whilst that was being carried out the passengers could then have their details taken, interpreters brought in, then found beds for those who were still in transit, see simples. I watch Midsummer Murders and have gained knowledge of what happens after somebody is dead.

Clearly you have no idea of what goes on at a serious crime scene. In the real world, disembarking passengers could have meant vital evidence was destroyed or disposed of in transit from the aircraft to the 'designated place' and a high likelihood of cross contamination . The only way to avoid this to keep the passengers on board until satisfied that there is no vital evidence to be disposed of or destroyed. Pretty sure people would be complaining if down the line any crime that may have happened and anyone who committed it remained undetected because someone had thrown a vital piece of evidence away from the aircraft in transit or flushed it down an airport toilet rather than the contained aircraft toilet. The police will never win, just no satisfaction with some people. Anyway the moral is don't always believe what you see on TV, its just for entertainment rather than realism.

Nice to see the police again took charge of the case and dithered around until everybody was so fed up a second crime might have been caused by some passenger "flipping his lid" over an extra five hours incarceration - good chance they might have been able to solve that one - doubt if they will on this one! But, well, it IS causing maximum disruption and getting us some extra overtime for Christmas.

obv hes was a drug smuggler and his bags have burst oh well what a shame did you read the report that the passanges from south america were unhappy because they didnt get told what was going on ther was no transalater duh theres a dead body infront of you lol

Wow what a way to die moddle of nowhere and leaving everyone behind suffering. Sorry for the person and the family who were expecting him/her at the end of the destination to be picked up a really hear breaking story. may God help his love one to overcome this painful day.

Gosh it would be wonderful if the journalists who wrote for these AOL pages had a degree in English, rather than perhaps media studies or some other irrelevant subject. The nurse who was behind the deceased passenger 'was [not[ sat' six rows behind unless someone physically lifted him into the space. Either he was sitting, or he was seated. These errors occur on a daily basis here. Aren't there enugh people who want jobs in journalism and who are educated for them?